I’ve avoided cauliflower for a while because it’s been really expensive. Apparently we went through a shortage at the exact same time that cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust, and cauliflower “alfredo” sauces hit their peak popularity, and we fell in to an all-out cauliflower crisis. I remember hearing a story about it on the radio which cited heads of cauliflower selling for over $7 in some areas! What. Anyway, prices have come down a bit, I’ve discovered this pre-shredded or “riced” cauliflower at Trader Joes, and I’m having a lot of fun experimenting with it. This week I made this amazingly fresh and vibrant Thai-inspired Peanut Lime Cauliflower Salad and I can NOT stop eating it!
Make Your Own Cauliflower Rice or Use Store Bought
So this riced cauliflower is totally a convenience product, but I’m okay with that because personally it’s worth the small increase in price to not have to prep the cauliflower myself. If that’s not the case for you or if you can get a head of cauliflower for much less than I paid for the bag of riced cauliflower, here is a great tutorial from The Kitchn on making cauliflower rice (food processor or box grater). It’s not hard, but I don’t mind pay just a bit extra to have it already done for me. :P Also, I cooked my cauliflower rice because I prefer the flavor of cooked cauliflower over raw, but if you are a raw cauliflower fan you can totally just make this salad with raw “riced” cauliflower.
Try Peanut Sauce in Your Peanut Lime Cauliflower Salad
I modeled this salad after my Nam Sod recipe, but decided to keep this one vegan since it was only one ingredient away from being vegan anyway. That one ingredient is fish sauce. I absolutely love the recipe as written below, but if you’re an omnivore and want to experiment, try adding a little fish sauce (maybe 1/2-1 tsp?) to the dressing.
Peanut Lime Cauliflower Salad
Servings 4 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil (or a neutral oil) ($0.23)
- 3 cups riced cauliflower ($2.49)
- Pinch of salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger ($0.10)
- 1 fresh lime (2 Tbsp juice) ($0.19)
- 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce ( $0.04)
- 1/2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce ($0.10)
- 1 red bell pepper ($0.99)
- 1/4 red onion ($0.25)
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts* ($0.38)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves ($0.45)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium, then add the oil and swirl to coat the surface. Add the riced cauliflower and a pinch of salt. Sauté the cauliflower over medium for about 5 minutes, or until it reaches your desired level of tenderness. Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl and allow it to cool as you prepare the rest of the ingredients (I placed mine in the refrigerator for faster cooling).
- Squeeze 2 Tbsp juice from the lime into a small bowl. Add the grated ginger, soy sauce, and chili garlic sauce. Stir to combine.
- Finely dice the red bell pepper and red onion. Pull the cilantro leaves from the stems and roughly chop them. Roughly chop the peanuts.
- Add the bell pepper, onion, cilantro, and peanuts to the bowl with the cooled cauliflower. Pour the dressing over top, then toss to combine the ingredients. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Peanut Lime Cauliflower salad – Step by Step Photos
This recipe begins with “riced” cauliflower, which is just cauliflower that has been broken up into little pieces. This 1 lb. bag is just over three cups. I think some stores also sell this frozen, which would work just as well. You can use this cauliflower raw or cooked for this salad, whichever you prefer.
I prefer the flavor of cooked cauliflower to raw, so I used sautéed cauliflower in my salad. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of a neutral cooking oil (I used coconut because even though it has a strong flavor, the flavor goes well with the ingredients in this dish). Add the cauliflower and a pinch of salt, and sauté for about 5 minutes or until it has reached your desired level of tenderness. Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl to let it cool as you prepare the other ingredients. I suggest placing it in the refrigerator to cool faster.
The dressing for this salad is incredibly simple. Squeeze 2 Tbsp of fresh lime juice from a lime and combine it with about 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1/2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce (you can use sriracha if you have that instead).
Finely dice 1 red bell pepper and 1/4 red onion. Pull about one cup of leaves from the stems of cilantro and give them a rough chop (about 1/2 bunch). Roughly chop 1/2 cup peanuts. Add the bell pepper, onion, cilantro, and peanuts to the cooled cauliflower.
Pour the prepared lime dressing over the salad…
And then stir to combine! That’s it! This salad is so incredibly fresh and vibrant. I absolutely LOVE it.
Shout out to Trader Joe’s for the awesome prices on red bell peppers and limes, too!
I have seen some many unique uses for cauliflower over the past couple years, but nothing like this before! Thanks for the cool recipe and side dish idea for this week.
This is good…but the name is deceiving!! I totally expected peanut butter to be in the dressing…then again, I LOVE peanut butter so always want a strong peanut flavor. I love that this makes a good salad for outdoor picnics w summer coming soon!
Holy Moly…this is amazing! I had to literally style from inhaling the entire bowl. It’s so pretty, it looks like a party and tastes fantastic. I riced the cauliflower by hand and it was easy.
Just made this. Love it! I don’t have a TJs, but I found frozen riced cauliflower for $2.59.
If I wanted to add some protein to this, what would be best? Pork, tofu, how would you do it? Thanks.
I was thinking the easiest way would be to add some shredded rotisserie chicken. :) You could also pan fry some tofu cubes and add those.
This looks delicious!
Also, I’m completely jealous that wherever you live a lime can be procured for 19 cents. They are, at their cheapest, 1.50 here.
That’s probably the least expensive I’ve ever gotten one for! Usually I can get them 3/$1, though. :) That’s one of the benefits of living in the south near the tropical areas where they are grown, I guess. But things like apples and plums are always stupid expensive here. Hahah
I made this today and it turned out delicious! The flavours are very bright and strong, and it feels substantial because of the cauliflower – a great recipe for low-carb eaters. I riced my own cauliflower because I’ve never seen it pre-riced anywhere around here, but it was still pretty easy to put together. Thanks for the great recipe, Beth!
Now I want to try making taboulleh with riced cauliflower. A shout out to our sisters and brothers in arms at the realfood-project.com
This looks SO delicious; I cannot wait to make it! I love cauliflower any which way, and am always looking for new ways to get it into my diet. Do you think coconut aminos would work well in place of the soy sauce? Thanks, Beth!
Well, I’ve never tasted or cooked with coconut aminos, unfortunately, so I’m not sure how that would work as a substitution.
LOVE caulifower–but the closest TJ is more than 75 miles away, and supermarket cauliflower is rarely less than $4 a head. Aldi’s however, a bargain store owned by the same company as TJ, is located in lots of smaller towns across the country. I can usually pick up a head of cauliflower there for $2.49-2.99, sometimes less–no pre-riced there, though, nor is it available at any of my local supermarkets.
I love this recipe! It looks perfect for spring. Definitely pinning this for later =)
That looks so good, I might even consider ‘ricing’ some cauliflower!
This is a great way to use cauliflower rice! Normally I just season it with garlic and curry powder, but this is way more exciting! I’ll try to make it ASAP!
Thank you for keeping the recipe vegan, I really appreciate it!
Do you think it could last all workweek if the dressing was kept separate from the salad mixture until serving? Thanks!
It would probably last most of the work week. I don’t think this one will wilt too much even with the dressing. :)
This looks so yummy!